Time to Face the Music
by Turtlesaregreat
Summary: Zoe Welera didn't ask for her powers. Yet when a seemingly bad situation ends up landing her a spot on the Avengers, she must face an unknown enemy from her past and deal with the drastic setbacks her powers cause. All the while Zoe is trying to become a part of the team and gain approval from all the other Avengers.
1. Prologue

**Hi. It's my first story so please review. I always appreciate constructive criticism. Sorry if this chapter sucks.**

 **DISCLAIMER: Any Marvel characters or references to Marvel are owned by Marvel. Any corporations, songs, etc. are also not owned by me.**

Prologue

Zoe woke up to the radio alarm that played through her muted earphones. Scoping out her surroundings, her eyes adjusted to the room around her. For the past two months she had been crashing at a gym that was open 24 hours. After being lucky enough to land a job as a janitor , Zoe had used the set of keys that came with the job to get into the kids' gym (where parents dropped their kids off to when they wanted to use the gym but were stuck watching the kids) to sleep at night. Although the gym itself was open 24/7, the kids' gym was only open from 8 to 6, so Zoe was conveniently provided a bedroom of sorts that came free with the job.

As she got her bearings, Zoe changed and slipped over to the bathroom to make herself look like she had just spent the night as Emma Santana at her house in the suburbs of New York with her roommates, and not as Zoe Welera, the person just trying to build her life up again. As her brown eyes stared at her reflection in the bathroom mirror, she struggled with her curly brown hair, attempting, and failing, to make it look presentable. When all else failed, Zoe shoved it up into a ponytail all the while humming along to the radio alarm she never turned off on her ipod. Grabbing a banana for breakfast from her gym bag that contained all of her possessions, Zoe snuck out the back door of the gym only to walk in a moment later for just another "day on the job."

Her coworker Amy the receptionist greeted her on the way in.

"Hey Emma. Over all the gym survived the night but someone threw up by the treadmills and that needs to be cleaned up."

Smiling at the greeting but annoyed by the mess she had to clean, Zoe headed over to the supply closet.

"I'll be right on it."

Exasperated, Zoe saw they were out of cleaning supplies. Again. Grabbing some money from the front desk, she headed to the store.

"I'm just heading out to grab some more soap and stuff. Be back in 20."

As Zoe walked to the closest store, she did her best to avoid the dark alleys that lined the streets. Although she lived a decent distance away from New York City, she still lived close enough that crime tended to trickle down.

She was almost at the store when she felt a hand wrap around her wrist. Stiffening at the touch, Zoe turned around to see a man holding a knife looking right at the cash she held in her hand _. Dang it. The one time I forget to put the money in my pocket._ Zoe knew exactly what he wanted and wanted no trouble, so she dropped the money and put her hands up.

"Take the cash. I don't really care just let me be."

The man looked at the measly crumpled up 20 and looked back straight at Zoe obviously not satisfied. "Awww. Common. You gotta have more than this."

"That's all I have. I swear. Leave me alone."

Zoe was getting scared. Her heart started beating faster, a constant rhythm. She could hear it beating, and decided to make a dash for it. She just wanted to get out of there.

She kept running until the man caught up to her, and she felt cold metal push up against her neck.

In one swift move she grabbed the gun, flipped him over, and shot him in the leg. At that moment the police pulled up, and it didn't take a genius to know that Zoe didn't exactly look innocent as she stood over the man she just shot, still holding the gun.

"Drop the weapon and get on your knees."

Zoe complied, and before she knew it they had taken away her belongings and put her in a holding cell.

They took her ipod. The fear started creeping in.

"How long am I going to be in here?"

Zoe asked a passing guard. _Not again. Not again. Not again._ The last time she... Zoe forced herself to stop. She would be fine. She would find music of some sort. It wouldn't happen again.

"Well, since you refuse to give us your name or your family's names, you should be in here for at least 48 hours until you can meet with your lawyer."

"Is there any chance I could listen to music to pass the time?"

The guard just laughed and walked away.

Now Zoe started to panic. She sat curled up in the corner until lights went out hours later. Plotting an escape. The only way she could think of required her to use her... ability... even though if it didn't work she'd really be screwed. When it seemed everyone was pretty much asleep and the guard was distracted by his phone in another room, she knew she had to act quick. The sound of her heartbeat had already escalated to a point where she could hear the muscle working clearly, a sound that warned her of the pain to come.

Guessing that it was around 3 in the morning, Zoe made her move.

She walked over to the lock on the cell and snapped her fingers. The sound was small, but it was enough. With ease, Zoe transformed the sound vibrations that had traveled into the lock into a temporary solid form, in hopes the lock would break open. However, after a few more attempts, Zoe gave up, holding her ears, and braced herself for the noise to come.

How many hours had she gone without music? 20? 21? The effects sank in. Zoe could hear nearly everything. She heard the slight laugh of the guard as he chuckled at something on his phone a few rooms down. She heard the air vents' constant shaking as it pushed the air to its proper place. She could hear all the snoring and sleep talking captives like her in the whole building.

But those were nothing.

It started with her heart. Pounding away over and over and over like the beat of a huge drum. Then her breathing grew loud until every breath she took felt like the screams of a hurricane come to take her away. This repeated with everything inside her. Moving around. Working. Keeping her alive just like all the time. Usually she wasn't aware of it. But now every function in her own body was magnified 100x.

The worst was her blood. She could hear it flowing. Like a creek inside her. Rushing. Raging. Killing her by keeping her alive. Oh how she longed for a note. A melody. A song. The music that blocked out the other sounds until they died down again for another 24 hours. 24 hours. 24 hours.

Zoe, desperate for some kind of song, tried singing to herself, but each time she took a breath she could hear it. All the gears turning inside her ruining the note before it left her lips.

The guard walked over, his loud voice booming at her to be quiet. But she couldn't take it anymore.

Zoe screamed.

And as the scream left her mouth, as the vibrations filled the room, she lost control. All the tension and inanity locked up inside her filled the sound waves, making them solid as they burst apart from one blast carved a huge hole in the building, and Zoe ran away, crying, not wanting to think about the people in the building.

She stumbled into the nearest coffee shop, and the jazzy music playing instantly soothed her. The beautiful sound overcame the other ones, and she let her focus go completely to the melody, until her hearing had gone back to normal.

Seeing the quizzical looks everyone was giving her, Zoe ran. She had to start over again. She ran. She didn't know where, she just kept running. Her first incident in 5 months. She kept running.

Eventually she ran into a dead end,and a black van blocked her exit. Out stepped 3 guards with guns and a guy in an eye patch also holding a gun. He spoke.

"My name is Director Fury with S.H.I.E.L.D. and you can either come willingly or I'll sedate you."

Zoe tried to run around the guards.

Fury shot her.

Her world went black.


	2. A Job Offer

A Job Offer

Director Fury and Agent Hill watched the girl wake up through the surveillance cameras in the room. Hill ventured to ask, "Sir, who is she?"

"We don't know"

"Why is she here?"

"She blew up a prison. Ran away. S.H.I.E.L.D. caught her."

"No offense, but this isn't the kind of case S.H.I.E.L.D usually takes."

"That's the thing. Our radar didn't detect an explosion. All it detected was a huge amount of extremely dense sound waves."

...

As Zoe woke up, she could hear classical music playing in the room. A room she didn't recognize. Another holding cell. At least this time they knew she needed music, but what else did they know? Zoe had tried so hard to keep her abilities a secret. She would hate for the police to let the whole world know about her, and didn't want to have to deal with all the chaos that would follow. Her thoughts wandered back to the previous night. As she finally remembered the whole scenario after receiving the memory in bits and pieces, she worried about the people in the jail and tried to remember anything about this S.H.I.E.L.D. that the man who shot her said he was taking her to.

Before she had enough time to get her story straight, the same man walked into the cell and sat down on one side of a table in the middle of the room. He gestured for Zoe to do the same, and she complied.

"My name is Director Fury. Care to share your name?"

Zoe remained silent and stared right at Fury, challenging him to continue.

"Not very talkative are you?"

Zoe just kept the silence. She felt that if she didn't talk they would eventually just give up and let her go. She was wrong.

"What if I turn off the music? Will that make you want to talk a little more?"

This made Zoe weigh her options. She knew she could call his bluff and say that it wouldn't affect her, but she would have to give in 40 hours later anyways, and Zoe was tired. Tired of running away. Tired of her little silent fight against Fury. If Fury handed her over to the police, her secret would be dumped on some sort of online public record, but at least the running would be over. Still there was a little part in Zoe that hoped. That held on to the tiny little chance that S.H.I.E.L.D. was different. She had seen on the news that S.H.I.E.L.D. had been compromised by Hydra, and that they were slowly trying to build themselves back up again, and she knew she could be a part of that rebuilding. But she pushed those thoughts down as soon as they came up. Experience had taught her not to trust anyone, and she wasn't going to hope for something impossible. She would settle for a jail cell. At least in prison she wouldn't have to face the world knowing about her. "My name is Zoe Welera. Please don't turn the music off. I'll answer your questions."

"Ok. We talked to the guard in the building. He said you asked for music and then freaked out later on. Care to tell us why?"

Relief flooded through Zoe as she learned that the guard was OK. She hesitated for a moment before revealing her secret, but she knew she was going to go through with her decision. "During the Battle of New York, me and my parents were visiting the City like we do every year, and we saw the portal open when the jitari started coming. At first we just stared at the sky like complete idiots, but when people around us started to be attacked, we hurried to shelter in the nearest building, which was a music store. For awhile we thought we would be safe inside, but then the entire building started to collapse. We tried to leave but the door was blocked by the rubble. Just when the floors above should have crushed me, just when I should have died, something weird happened. Everything went into slow motion. And all of the instruments played by themselves. They all played the same note and played as loud as they could. The combined sound blasted my ears open and stabbed its way up into my head. It was the most painful thing I've ever felt. But that wasn't all. All of a sudden I could hear every single thing that was going on in that city. I heard the aliens each time they came through the portal. I heard the screams of their victims. I heard people dying. I heard the scared cries of all the little children clinging on to their parents who were just as scared. I heard Captain America as he shouted orders to the police and the Avengers. But that was nothing. I could hear everyone's blood flowing. I could hear everyone's heart beating. I could hear everyone's every breath and everything else that was going on inside of them. The instruments kept playing and I felt like my head was going to explode from all the noise. I wanted it to end. It was all I could think about. I wanted it to end. Finally, I blacked out from the pain and woke up normal again lying outside the rubble that was once a building. The battle had ended, with the Avengers obviously victorious, but as I ran to the fallen building I saw the lifeless bodies of my parents crushed beneath the debris. I buried them myself. It didn't take me long to realize that something was different. I could almost feel the vibrations of sound floating through the air. So I got curious and tried to control those vibrations. Turn them into something whole. One day when nobody was looking I consenrated on the vibrations. I could feel them slowly binding together, so I forced them together in one blast. It's kind of like I turned the sound waves into a solid substance. I practiced this and got better and better at it. Now I have almost complete control. Except for when I don't hear music, like the guard was saying. At first, I'm still in control, but I'm in extreme pain. The sound of every function in my body is magnified and drives me slowly insane. It puts me back in time to the Battle of New York, and my head can't handle all the noise. And then it gets to a certain point where I loose control. I let out a huge burst of solidified sound energy and keep doing so until I can find music. It usually doesn't take long. I want it to end so badly I don't stop moving until I hear music. After I listen to it for awhile I go back to normal. If I don't manipulate sound waves I can go for 40 hours without music before I start to feel the pain and 48 hours before I lose control. If I do use my ability I can only go for 20 hours before I feel the pain and 24 before I lose control."

As soon as she finished Zoe felt relieved. It was as if she had been yearning to get her whole story out all at once but was never given the chance. She knew the questions were coming, but she didn't know what else Fury wanted to know. She had tried to be very thorough in her explanation.

"How many times have you lost control?"

"3"

"When?"

"Once a few weeks after the incident, once a few months ago, and you know about the last one."

"Do you have any idea if someone was involved in the incident?"

"No"

"Do you have any idea why the incident occurred?"

"Not at all"

"Do you know how to fight?"

"Excuse me?"

This struck Zoe by surprise. The question was completely off topic, and she didn't see why Fury needed to know. Fury asked again: "Do you know how to fight?"

"I was never trained to fight, but I've been on the run for awhile and have had to keep in shape if that's what you mean."

"Anything else we should know?"

"Not that I can think of. Are you going to hand me over to the police?"

"No. I'd like to give you a job offer."

"A job offer for what?"

"Have you heard about the Avengers?"

"Ya. They're all over the news and I was there during the Battle of New York."

"I want you to join them."

Zoe burst out laughing. The Avengers? Earth's mightiest heroes? She couldn't even fight.

"I don't exactly think I'm the most qualified person for that team."

"It's either that or jail."

"Count me in."


	3. A New Avenger

A New Avenger

Despite Fury's forced recruitment, Zoe was having her doubts about becoming an avenger. As they rode through New York City in a black van towards Avenger's Tower, she grew increasingly more nervous with every turn. How could she possibly fit in with the avengers? They were practically gods! Zoe knew she would have to be trained to fight better than the little she managed to pick up from off the streets when she first went on the run, and wondered what that training process would be like.

Only a few hours ago, she had been issued a S.H.I.E.L.D. phone and a tablet of sorts with information on the Avengers Initiative. As she skimmed over each of their files, she grew more and more intimidated. Looking over at Fury riding next to her, Zoe asked, "Sir, do they know I'm coming?"

"I'd thought it'd be more dramatic for it to be a surprise."

"Do they know anyone's coming?"

"I told them to be ready for a meeting with me in about 15 minutes from now."

"And what exactly is the point of making a dramatic entrance?"

"It's just fun."

Slightly confused, Zoe looked outside the window. She didn't exactly think the whole 'dramatic entrance' thing was the best idea, but everyone seemed to respect the director, so Zoe figured it wasn't a good idea to argue with him.

She continued reading through her files. For some reason, Zoe was intrigued by the file on Captain America, the man out of time. What was it like? Waking up decades later and having to adjust to all the new concepts and technologies, all the while coping with the loss of everyone he knew and loved. Her thoughts were interrupted when they pulled up to the huge skyscraper with the Avengers signature A on display.

"We're here."

...

As all the Avengers waited in the conference room for Fury, Tony started getting impatient.

"J.A.R.V.I.S., is he here yet? This better be important."

"Director Fury just walked into the lobby, Mr. Stark. There is another person with him."

At this all the avengers looked up. Whenever Fury came, which didn't happen that often, he almost always came alone. Clint and Natasha shared a look before Clint responded, " J.A.R.V.I.S., is the other person someone we know? What can you tell us about them."

"She has never been inside the tower, so I can come to the assumption she is a new face. She is slender, has short brown hair, and hazel eyes, Mr. Legolas."

"Tony! Did you program J.A.R.V.I.S. to call me Legolas?"

Tony just burst out laughing as Fury entered the conference room with the girl behind him.

...

As Zoe entered the room after Fury, Stark was laughing at something, and Barton looked angry at him. The other avengers were either laughing with Stark or curiously watching her. Steve Rogers spoke first."I assume this meeting is about the girl?"

The other avengers snapped into attention and waited until Fury responded, "This is Zoe Welera. I want you to train her for the Avengers Initiative. She could be a valuable asset to you."

Zoe could feel everyone in the room stare right at her. Giving her the once over. Deciding for themselves if she was worthy for their team. Zoe had the enormous urge to look at the floor, but she knew she had to appear confident where she stood, so she held her head high and took the opportunity to look right back at everyone in the room. She was surprised to see a grin creep itself across Stark's face before he excitedly said, "Well hi! My name is Tony, this is Steve, Bruce, Clint, Wanda, and Natasha. Thor is in Asgard doing Asgardian stuff, and I don't know where everyone else is. You'll probably be staying in the tower so I'll get you a floor. Welcome! People. Say hello to Zoe. She is a new avenger, not your next target. J.A.R.V.I.S., please assign our new resident one of the guest floors as her permanent living quarters. "

"Right away Mr. Stark, how does the 21 floor sound?"

"Great!" Tony finished.

Almost as soon as Tony finished with the introduction, Steve spoke up. "Is she trained? Is she enhanced in any way? What makes you think she can be an avenger?"

Zoe was glad Tony had introduced everyone and made an attempt at being friendly but felt irritated by Steve. He was only talking to Fury and was acting as if Zoe didn't know how to talk for herself. She wanted to scream at him, to tell him that she was in the room and was perfectly capable of answering his questions, but instead she just ignored the fact that Steve had been addressing Fury and answered, "I'm not trained, but I certainly can be, and my ability is weird. I can temporarily turn sound waves into a solid form."

Bruce and Tony both immediately looked interested in her ability. She knew they were the scientists on the team, and wasn't surprised they were interested in what made her 'powers' tick.

At this point Fury felt the need to say, "Tell them about the little... setback that comes with your ability."

Zoe took a deep breath as she got ready to explain her greatest weakness. She didn't want the team to see her as weak, as someone who could burst any minute and lose control of her own self, but she knew she would have to tell them eventually anyways, if they were ever going to work and live together.

"I have to listen to music every so often. I can go 40 hours without listening to it if I don't use my ability. 20 if I do. Otherwise, I go into a condition of extreme pain and eventually lose control until I can hear music again."

Zoe was expecting some kind of freak out from the team but was surprised when she saw they all just nodded like it made perfect sense. She guessed the avengers had seen crazier things.

Tony jumped up and said, "Don't worry, Brucey and I will build you some kind of cool musical Stark tech. Fury, if you don't have anything left to say you can leave."

Fury hesitated for a second, but, figuring it would just be easier to leave Zoe alone with the team than to argue with Tony Stark, glanced over at Zoe one more time before leaving. Zoe decided she and Tony would probably get along just fine, and his humor made him seem friendly and approachable.

Steve, on the other hand, looked annoyed that he had to deal with Zoe, and said, "One of us has to train her, anyone want to volunteer?"

"I'll take her." Natasha replied.

"Ok. She seems like she needs a lot of work," were the last words Steve said before he practically ran out of the room.

Zoe just looked at the team and said, "He doesn't seem to like me very much."

Wanda burst out laughing. Everyone just looked at her as if she was crazy, and she just responded with, "Believe me, if only you knew."

...

As soon as Steve was back on his floor, he sat down and tried to get his thoughts together. Why had he been so rude to her? The new girl, Zoe, had confused him. He didn't know why, but as soon as she had entered the room he felt like he couldn't stop looking at her. Steve liked to be in control. How could he lead the team if he wasn't? He knew he probably should have dealt with that confusion better, but now he had to deal with the aftermath of being unwelcoming to the new member.

Still, he couldn't get her features out of his head. Maybe it was something about her eyes...

 **Sabina Mohammad:** **Thanks for the review. Sorry if this chapter is wordy. For some reason I had trouble writing it.**


	4. Burst

**Hi. Sorry I can't update as often now because my phone got completely destroyed and I don't have that much access to a computer.**

Burst

Tony, accompanied by Bruce and Natasha, felt the need to accompany Zoe to her floor. All of the avengers had their own floor to themselves to live in at Avengers Tower, courtesy of Tony's deep pockets. Once Zoe had settled in, Tony jumped up with a sudden realization, and said, "Zoe! You need a cool superhero name!"

Everyone else in the room just rolled their eyes. It was typical of Tony to not take anything seriously and come up with some crazy ideas to make everything sound cooler. Zoe quickly learned it was a fine line between when Tony was serious, joking around, or both. She liked that about him. He had been pretty much the only avenger so far who had been genuinely friendly to her, and he made her have fun and forget about all the duties and worries she should have about her new job. But as she thought about it for awhile, she realized that she probably _should_ have a name. In fact, she was the only avenger who didn't. She would never admit that to anyone though. She was afraid it would make her seem overeager to be on the team.

"How about Amp?" Natasha said. "Because it's short for an amplifier, and your ability deals with sound."

While Zoe tried to still keep up the face that she hoped said that she thought the whole ordeal was a waste of time, the other three in the room had moved past the fact that Tony seemed a little too excited to name a new member and actually looked like they were pondering a new name.

"No, it sounds too much like the name a rapper would take on." Bruce responded to Natasha's suggestion.

"I know. Let's call her Sonic. Like the crazy blue character from the video game. Doesn't he burst sound and stuff?" Tony interjected.

"NO. That's a ridiculous idea," Natasha argued. "Zoe, what do you think?"

"I don't really know if a name is necessary for me, but if it is, than I do not want it to be Sonic."

They kept debating her name for a good 5 minutes until Zoe finally just said, "Ok. Just pick a name and make it simple. Geez this isn't the presidential debate here."

Bruce was the one who finally thought of it: "How about something simple like, The Burst? It certainly fits your capabilities since you can concentrate sound waves and then disperse them in 'bursts' if you want to."

Slowly, everyone in the room thought about the new name, and, after realizing that there was really nothing wrong with the name, agreed to the simple but sensible name.

As they were about to leave, Natasha turned over her shoulder to look at Zoe and said, "We don't have an official dinner every night, but we all usually end up heating something up and hanging out at the 18 floor lounge, if you want to come. Your training starts tomorrow, meet me in the gym at 7am. It's on the 15 floor, and believe me, I know all the flooring can be confusing at first, but you get used to it. Ask J.A.R.V.I.S. for help if you ever have trouble finding your way around."

That night, Zoe didn't meet the team at their unofficial dinner time because she really just wanted to sleep and get ready for the day ahead. She finally fell asleep thinking of her new name as she listened to music from her phone. Burst. She liked it. It was simple, yet made sense in a not-so-obvious way.

….

The next day, Zoe's alarm screamed "Beat It" by Michael Jackson at her to get up at 6 o'clock. As she sat up in bed, Zoe started to wonder what her first day of training would be like. She had seen Natasha fight as the Black Widow on the news, and knew she was a serious tough fighter, and an argument could even be made that her hand to hand combat skills were the best on the team. Training wouldn't be easy, that's for sure. Still, Zoe was looking forward to it. The sooner she had been trained enough to go out on the field, the sooner she could fight with the avengers, the sooner she could use her abilities to become a part of something bigger.

As she finished getting ready and grabbed some food, Zoe went down to the gym to stretch and get ready with 15 minutes to spare. She was surprised to see Natasha already there, soaked in sweat and grinning, no doubt coming back from a morning run.

"Me and some of the others like to run in the morning to stay in shape and get ready the next day. You should join us tomorrow, but for today just run a few laps around the gym and get warm for training," Natasha said.

Zoe could tell Natasha was in a different mindset. Gone was the teammate who welcomed Zoe into the group. She was replaced by someone whose pure purpose was to get Zoe in shape, and she didn't necessarily have to be nice about it to get the optimal results. Zoe saw this, and tried to warm up as best as possible, because she knew it would be a whole lot more painful in the morning if her muscles were tight once she started to push them to their limits. By 7 o'clock, she was loose and determined to make the best of the session.

"I want to see where you're at and assess your strengths and weaknesses. Fight me." Natasha told Zoe. "Under no circumstances should you use your powers unless told to do so when training. You can't rely on them to be your fail safe in all situations."

Zoe and Natasha stepped into the boxing ring and they both took a fighting stance and circled each other around the ring. Natasha rushed in first. Zoe didn't even know what hit her until she felt a deep pain in her gut from where Natasha had landed a simple solid punch. Not quite sure what to do, Zoe tried to punch Natasha back across her face, but Natasha just effortlessly pushed Zoe's arm away and punched her again in the stomach. Zoe got the wind knocked out of her, and she felt like she couldn't breath. Natasha took the opportunity to punch her again. At least this time she hadn't been subconsciously holding in her breath. Zoe found it weird that Natasha kept repeating the same move over and over again, and then she realized, _she wants to know how I react, she is testing me_. The next time Natasha tried to hit her in the stomach, Zoe mimicked the move Natasha had used to push her arms away and landed a measly kick to Natasha's head. Natasha just shrugged, and, deciding she had enough information to start a training plan, put Zoe in a simple headlock until Zoe was on the ground and couldn't move.

Zoe had been creamed, but she knew that. She had been expecting it. She had rarely any fighting experience, and Natasha had been trained how to fight pretty much her entire life.

"Alright, you are very flexible, and pretty strong, but you could use some work on your abdomen and arms. Your main problem is that you don't exactly know what to do in a fight. I'll have to teach you all the basic moves blocks and other techniques. For now I want you to do 100 sit ups and 100 push ups every night until it gets easy. Try not to stop but if you have to just stop until you can start again and keep on going until you reach 100," was Natasha's analysis of the fight.

Zoe could tell that she was completely right and was already regretting the push ups and sit ups that she had been ordered to do later that night. She would have to do them though, she was helplessly weaker than the other avengers, and felt the pressure to catch up. The rest of the 5 hour session consisted of Natasha showing Zoe some kicks, punches, and blocks on the punching bags, and having Zoe do them over and over and over again until they stopped. Zoe intended on coming in on her own time and practicing everything. She was determined to be fit for a fight in a month or so.

…..

That night Zoe decided to finally join the rest of the team at their casual dinner. When she walked in she saw that everyone that had been in the conference room when she first came were already eating pizza from a stack of boxes on the counter and watching a football game. Zoe grabbed a few slices and joined them in an empty chair facing the T.V.

Clint greeted her as she sat down: "Hey! How hard did Natasha go on you? Do you watch football?"

"She went easy, but still creamed me. Of course I watch football. You guys should try to guess my team."

At Zoe's challenge suddenly everyone was at attention. Tony and Natasha started to form a bet as to who could guess first, but Wanda beat everyone when she abruptly said, "You like the Pittsburgh Steelers because your mom grew up near there and that was always her favorite team."

At first, Zoe was creeped out. How could she guess so spot on? But then she remembered about her mind-reading capabilities, and her realization was confirmed when Tony yelled out, "No fair! Not all of us can just look inside people's minds and know exactly what they are thinking!"

Everyone just laughed it off and continued to watch the game (not a Steelers game). Zoe suddenly noticed Steve sitting on the side looking sad, and Zoe ventured to ask, "Not into the game? Is your team losing or something?"

Steve looked up and said, "I don't know how my team is doing, because I wanted to watch the Yankees but nobody else did."

With a nod of understanding, Zoe handed Steve her phone and her earphones and showed him the MLB app that had the game on. "Here. You can just watch the game on my phone. Just remember to give it back of course."

"Of course! Thank you so much, I didn't know you could do that."

Zoe couldn't help but smile, Steve looked so happy as he soaked in the events of the game he missed so far. Zoe just guessed that nobody had felt the need to explain the app to him since he came up out of the ice and everything.

Her thoughts were interrupted by Tony practically yelling, "Why do you still have a S.H.I.E.L.D. phone? Those things are a piece of junk, and Fury monitors them like crazy. You can use it for now, I suppose, but I'll give you a Stark phone later this week, and we'll have a whole lot of fun throwing your phone off of the tower and watching it crush into a million pieces!"

"Sure. Thanks. And I've always wanted to throw a phone off a building, I guess now I can!"

They spent the rest of the night yelling at the T.V. and arguing all the calls until the game ended and people slowly drifted to their floors. Eventually, Steve handed back Zoe's phone with a smile on his face.

"They won."

"Good."

"Did Natasha tell you about the morning jog a few of us go on?"

"Ya. I was planning on showing up."

"I suppose I'll see you there."

"See ya."

As Zoe headed to her floor and did her exercises, she turned on the radio and thought about the day. For some reason she kept thinking about Steve. He had seemed hostile when she first came but friendly enough now. She found herself looking forward to the morning jog and seeing him there, even if she had barely talked to him. As she finally fell into her sleep she tried to get him out of her head, but for some reason everything she thought of returned to him. Confused, Zoe just gave up and let the music carry her off into her subconsciousness.

 **Kitty-Cat134** **and** **darkpoisonivy** **: Thank you for reviewing. Sorry about the lack of updates and filler chapter.**


	5. A Call

**Yay! I finally added to this story. So sorry about no updates. It's been so long! My phone is still broken as ever. I'm going to try switching POV more often. This chapter is pretty short (not exactly my best writing).**

A Call

Zoe woke up before her alarm went off, panting and drenched in sweat. She reached out desperately for her phone, and wouldn't calm down until she heard the soft calming sound of Mozart fill up the air around her. This time she was lucky. This time she couldn't remember her dream. She could only remember that it was a bad one. Sometimes she would remember these kinds of dreams later on throughout the day. She had learned to push down the bad ones, learned how to not remember, how to forget before she is given the choice.

She sat in bed and got her thoughts together. Her clock read 4:57. She was in Avengers Tower. She was about to get up and go running with the rest of the team. Zoe thought this was a great opportunity to bond with the other members, and didn't want to blow it. It would be extremely awkward to always be the odd one out who never understood any of the team's inside jokes and just lived in isolation, all the while living an elevator ride away from a great group of people. She knew she would take awhile to even remotely physically catch up to anyone on the team, but she sure was going to try. Shutting off her alarm in advance before it even went off, Zoe did her daily pushups and situps. She knew she had only been told to do them at night, but the determination to match her team had already convinced Zoe she would do them at least 3 times a day. It was the only sure way to improve. After she finished Zoe showered and changed into a tank top and yoga pants that had mysteriously appeared in her closet and wandered downstairs to grab some breakfast and see who else went on the morning runs.

….

Steve woke up promptly at 5 o'clock like he always did to get ready for his morning run. After getting ready quick as usual, he went to the kitchen to eat and was surprised to see that the new girl, Zoe, was already there, cooking eggs. Steve was usually the first one up, because the other members weren't exactly morning people.

He realized that he was only about 5 feet away from Zoe, yet she still hadn't noticed him. She seemed to be humming along to something, and as Steve headed to open the fridge he saw the earphones she was wearing. After grabbing some yogurt and fruit, the sound the fridge made when he closed it made Zoe lookup. As Steve scolded himself for not closing the door quieter, Zoe just smiled and said, "Good morning."

"Good morning to you too," Steve replied.

"I see you are already up. Do you know when the other people who run usually come down?"

"It's usually Natasha, Wanda, and Clint. In that order."

"Ok. So, do you guys have a routine running pattern you use?"

"Yes. But it's sort of unspoken. We usually just run in a large rectangle around a few blocks. I usually run two laps, being enhanced and all."

At that moment Natasha and Wanda both walked in. They seemed to be talking about something, and Wanda glanced up and asked Steve, "Is your birthday really the 4th of July?"

Steve just sighed. This was one crazy coincidence he was never going to live off. He had happened to be born on July 4, which was ironic because he was "Captain _America._ " As much as he tried to convince people it was just a crazy coincidence, people (well… pretty much just Tony and Clint) often interpreted it as a sign that Steve was literally born to be Captain America.

Steve just answered Wanda with, "Yes. I was born on the 4th of July. But it is a complete coincidence and had nothing to do with my 'name'."

Wanda replied, "Oh my God! That's so cool! That just made my day."

Out of the corner of his eye Steve thought he saw Zoe smiling, but he didn't want to look like he was staring so he pulled his eyes away before he could tell for sure. He didn't know why, but making her smile made Steve feel a sense of pride. Confused, he pushed the thought away.

When Clint came down a few minutes later and they were all ready to leave, the group head out to start the run.

…..

Zoe could tell that the other members of the running group (aside from Steve, who ran on his own) were slowing down to match her pace. At first she was frustrated that she was dragging everyone down to a slower pace, but her frustration was gradually replaced with a gratitude that they were giving her a chance to keep up. Although none of the others seemed phased by the run, Zoe was getting tired. As her feet thumped along to the distant beat of the radio on her phone, she kept pushing herself to go faster and faster. She had to build up stamina. When it got to the point where she didn't know how much longer she could run, Wanda said, "Guys, Zoe's really tired."

The whole group slowed to a stop. Zoe hated that she had to take a breather, yet couldn't stop from sucking in great gulps of air back into her lungs. When she finally faced the three others, she started to apologize for holding the team back, but was cut off when Natasha explained, "Whenever we get a new member, which has only happened a couple of times, we always run at the slowest member's pace. It helps the whole team become more aware of each other's limits, and ties in with the old saying 'No man left behind.' Don't feel bad, you're a lot faster than Wanda was when she first came."

"Hey!"

"As I was saying, if you ever need a breather don't hesitate to ask, Wanda here has an increased sense of empathy because of her mind reading skills, so on occasion she might tell us when you need a break if you're afraid to speak up."

As this news was being processed, Zoe started to feel a slight humming noise. She didn't literally hear it, but it seemed to resonate throughout her, like it was calling to her. As she scoped out her surroundings, she identified the source as a dark alley way she hadn't seen before.

"Hey, what's down that alley?" She asked.

"Just a bunch a trash bins that lead to a dead end, why?" Clint said.

"I don't know."

The humming pull started to intensify, and Zoe felt herself take a step towards the alley, she _had_ to go down there. She couldn't explain it. The call drew her in and trapped her, while the humming grew louder and louder in her head. She knew she must be in a trance, but the humming sounded so sweet. So inviting.

She was pulled out of her thoughts when a strong hand placed itself on her shoulder. She glanced up and saw Steve, who she assumed was overlapping them when he noticed her mesmerized trance.

"Hello? Are you here? Is everything ok?" he said.

"Ya. I… I just thought I heard something," Zoe lied. She didn't know why but she thought it would be a good idea to keep her episode hidden from everyone else. As she came back to her full senses, the humming faded away. She received curious glances from the rest of the group, but they left her alone about it for the remainder of the run. Steve decided to run along with them, and Zoe felt guilty that his decision had something to do with her trance, but didn't speak out against it. She tried to push the humming out of her head, but throughout the rest of the day she would remember the pull, the call the alley sent out to her as an invitation, and (even though Clint had described the alley as a dead end) she wanted with everything to see what was down there,


End file.
